Mets Game 48: Win Over Padres

Mets 2 Padres 0

It wasn’t a four-game sweep, but it was the next-best thing.

Mets Game Notes

As has been the case most of the time this year, R.A. Dickey‘s knuckler was dancing. Don’t look now, but R.A. has a 7-1 record and on pace to be the Mets’ first 20-game winner since Frank Viola went 20-12 in 1990.

And thank goodness Dickey held the hard-hitting Padres to only three hits and no runs, because the Mets could do nothing against San Diego ace Edinson Volquez — other than five hits, three walks, and two runs.

One of those runs came on a passed ball; the other on a single by Daniel Murphy. That’s it.

David Wright went 0-for-3 with a run scored, dropping his average down to .382. The resurgence of Ike Davis has been temporarily halted, as he also went 0-for-3, but with two strikeouts.

Justin Tuner collected two hits, including a double, as the starting shortstop.

Dickey had one of the Mets’ five hits.

Mike Baxter led off and had one hit, a double, his tenth of the year. Wow, pretty impressive that Baxter has that many two-baggers considering that he’s spent most of the year as a pinch-hitter.

After watching the ineptitude of the Padres this weekend, I seriously wish MLB would consider contracting by two to four clubs. They never would, because there are too many millions of dollars at stake. But the injury-ridden Padres look like a bad AAA team — and the Pirates don’t look all that much better. Bud Selig is constantly looking for ridiculous ways of tweaking the game to create more “excitement,” such as adding more wild cards. You know what would make the game exciting? Send the six last-place teams at the All-Star Break down to AAA. You might not see players like these Padres throw in the towel so quickly, and you’d see better baseball in the second half. I know, I know — the scheduling would be a mess, but hey, that’s why we have modern technology. If we can put a man on the moon and deliver a pizza in 20 minutes, surely we can figure out a way to reconfigure a baseball schedule.

Next Mets Game

The Mets open a three-game set against the suddenly Roy Halladay-less Phillies on Monday afternoon at 1:10 p.m. Jonathan Niese goes to the mound against Cole Hamels.

Joe Janish began MetsToday in 2005 to provide the unique perspective of a high-level player and coach -- he earned NCAA D-1 All-American honors as a catcher and coached several players who went on to play pro ball. As a result his posts often include mechanical evaluations, scout-like analysis, and opinions that go beyond the numbers. Follow Joe's baseball tips on Twitter at @onbaseball and at the On Baseball Google Plus page.

I know the Mets season would have been better last year if they ended it 4-6 weeks sooner.

jerseymetMay 27, 2012 at 11:08 pm

…and Santana is on a pace to to get 9 wins…

jerseymetMay 27, 2012 at 11:09 pm

…and NASA is out of the Rocket buisness….

jerseymetMay 27, 2012 at 11:11 pm

….and this ain’t European Soccer…

normeMay 27, 2012 at 11:11 pm

Nice thought, Joe.
Actually, what your idea is calling for is starting the playoffs
early by eliminating the losers at the All-Star Break. It could create a systematic elimination of teams at different points in the season and instill a greater urgency to win.
You could have arbitrary cut-off dates (All-Star Break/ mid-Aug./mid-Sept.) that would eliminate the bottom-feeders.
Of couse, this would never happen because of the perceived loss of revenue.

Actually, maybe there is potential for MORE revenue — if you allow the top, say, three AAA teams enter MLB. They wouldn’t really be AAA teams; rather, they’d be former MLB teams. What if MLB consisted of 26 teams, and the “in-between” league consisted of another 10 who played each other? Those ten teams could all make money since they had a chance to enter MLB in July.

BTW, a few sneered at Banner Day, but seems like the fans had fun with it.

CrozierMay 28, 2012 at 12:12 am

My expectations remain on the low side (the Mets were something like 19-9 in May of 2010, after which things pretty much hit the dirt), but it would have been nice if you had noted the Mets stand alone as wild card leaders today; the key component being they’re 14-7 against the NL East. Did anyone think that was a remote possibility this spring? A quarter of the season gone, and they’ve never been under .500. Now that’s amazin’.

wohjrMay 28, 2012 at 12:42 am

Joe!

I love the relegation idea. And why not? We are all now bearing witness to Oklahoma City becoming a legitimate NBA city…. because they have an NBA franchise! What if we gave a shot to Buffalo, Las Vegas, Portland Maine, Tacoma, Sioux Falls, etc. etc…. whomever can play well enough at AAA to beat out the lower teams– I’d suggest 3 teams per year. The only sticky part is that the big clubs control the small ones… could we re-imagine the relationship between AAA clubs and the majors? Teams call straight up from AA if the prospects are any good besides…

Funny you should mention that; I have a post scheduled to go up on Tuesday morning regarding my “premonition.”

DaveSchneckMay 28, 2012 at 1:38 am

Joe,
13 Pads on the DL, with a weak team at full strength, makes the Mets’ injury woes seem trivial. SD is a big league town with a beautiful downtown ballpark, but I’m just glad to see the Mets stockpiling wins against weak teams and in games that they don’t hit much.

Josh ZMay 28, 2012 at 11:32 am

im pretty sure at one point the padres catcher allowed three passed balls in a row